I mean you don't get more positive that beagles post but just to keep adding...
I went for a walk with our new rescue dog and we saw an otter swimming about in peebles, ther air smells great as MAtt says, I had a coffee and gave a big old post walk belly rub.
I also stood on my glasses.
peaks and troughs innnit
After leaving some different areas of grass even longer than usual at this times of year (a lot is left until autumn or longer) I’ve spotted some Ladysmock, a food source for orangetip butterflies. A result for my light touch gardening!
Got knocked off my bike at a roundabout. Car hit rear wheel span me round 180 and ended up in a pile in the road. Stood up, brushed myself off,bike ok, got back on rode home. Winning!
Won a tenner on Post Code Lottery!
😎😎😎
Really thankful for our garden at the moment.
We ate tea out there tonight - slow cooker curry ftw.
We've got (I think) tree bumblebees in one of our nest boxes. 😃
They're a tad defensive, but lovely up see.
And although early, the flowers in our North facing garden are looking great this year.
We've even a few Azalea that have flowered for the first time this year.
Is that a cheeky bhaji trying to escape?
It didn't for long.
Ashington mining museum, Newbiggin by the sea for walkies and excellent fish and chips, Druridge Bay (nothing there, absolutely stunning), pint in Morpeth's Office. Perfect day and not much spent.
A walk to the excellent Flying Childers at Stanton with my mate and our dogs. EXCELLENT beer and food, over Stanton Moor to the Red Lion at Birchover, lots of bird song and the trees bursting into life. Good beer brewed on site then a walk down the dale to Darley Bridge for a mediocre pint and then along to The Plough at Two Dales for more excellent beer. A bit busy, I prefer winter and bad weather for walks out here but I shouldn’t object to people enjoying themselves, even if they insist on chanting football songs and running about in replica kit. I’m over it, I did enjoy myself!
Listen to the birdsong!!
Sorry, some sort of double post with error message, trying to dampen my positivity!
wheelsonfire1 is clearly located closer to me than I realised....
@MoreCashThanDash be very afraid! You might be dragged into the depressed owd mens dog pub crawl. Growling at Air BNB, second home owners and people enjoying themselves..
Stuff growing, hawthorn blossom smelling great, ladysmock back in the garden, buttercups and the random orchid that appeared on the front lawn doing well. Neighbour resisted cutting the shared front lawn whilst we’ve been away - I’m trying to educate him! A positive result?
Took my dad to the eye clinic to get his cataract checked, the "good" news is that it's now so bad they will fo the operation in 4 weeks time.
When he can see properly he might stop being so grumpy and making my mum grumpy who moans at me about it. Circle of Life eh? 🤣
Not a drink since the start of September 2021 and lost 25kg weight and my latest medical tests have improved from YOU ARE DEAD to just YOU ARE DYING but more slowly than before and with some bits showing signs of recovery. Great result.
On the way out of the house this morning I noticed one of the kids bikes had a piece of cardboard from the recycling box taped on to make a motorbike noise. I remember doing that and made me smile. Anyone else remember doing that?
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Used to keep the card in place with a clothes peg
Watched the film “Pride” last night on BBC 2. A cracking film and cracking soundtrack! Catch it if you want a lift.
A challenging few days mentally, went out on a solo road ride this morning into a bugger of a headwind, but brightened no end 2 miles in when I came across a big tree down across the cycle path - easy enough to get an 8kg road bike over/through it, took two of us to get an old boys 30kg Haibike over, then the two of us helped an older lady get her three dogs across without them getting loose.
After 25 miles of headwind, rocked up at the cafe and randomly bumped into someone I've not seen since pre-Covid, had a lovely chat over coffee and bacon cobs
Just catching up on this thread so...
- beagleboy, great news
- bill, please stop making northumberland sound like a great place; it really isn't - if you know what I mean...
For me - digging for wiggly worms in garden with grandson followed by boat trip and then more digging; house purchase late 2020 came with hot tub, new cover and wooden gazebo - not for me but near neighbour (over the road) wanted one so today we've taken down the gazebo and moved it, drained the tub, worked out how to lift and move the now empty tub.
Watched robins and swifts searching for food in freshly turned over ground - and they're still going at it; listening to craig charles.
Grandson's 3rd birthday party tomorrow.
That all feels good to me.
Moving the hot tub - Can you make a low trolly, basically a large plank with a couple of wheels under it? If so, tip the empty tub onto its side on the trolley and roll it over to your neighbour.
I sat up the garden this afternoon after a thrilling TT, me and Dennis the dog on limited exercise. Lola, the other dog doing enough for both of us beetling around in the long grass and looking for small mammals. The hawthorn blossom has finished now and there’s going to be a good crop of berries, elder is in flower smelling wonderful and the two types of honeysuckle that have gone mad through the pear tree and other trees (and rather overwhelmed it) are just beginning to blossom. We’re going to have some lovely evenings up there with a beer or two watching the bats and breathing in the scent. The birds love the mix of trees and the protection they give, lots of gold and greenfinches singing away, dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, blue and great tits, thrushes, house sparrows, chiff chaffs and today I’m pretty sure a willow tit. It’s amazing what turns up if you let a certain wildness develop. We have swift’s overhead and also buzzards and kestrels eying up our terrier’s that probably look like rabbits from up there! My mate came and cut the paths into the long grass yesterday so it all looks intentional again, and so I can get about. The gooseberries in the fruit cage are getting a bit swamped with goosegrass, but, recognising that sometimes you can’t do everything I’ll probably open it up when they’re ripe and let the birds and the foxes have them.
Yes, a positive day for me, I’ve managed to beat the frustration!
It might be the last of my posts on here.
Trying to be positive, the first sweet pea flower of the season (we were late putting them in), the scent is amazing. Also on the front lawn I kept a strip after no mow May (much of our garden doesn’t get cut until late August, but it’s a shared front), and tonight I noticed an Orchid had popped up! We had one appear several years ago and Im careful to not mow it until late, they’re not supposed to like acid soil like ours but still come back.
Another positive on STW is the freedom people feel to talk about their mental health and problems, very refreshing.
I’m trying to keep positive, please post your positive experiences.
First day back at work after 3 months signed off with mental health.
After a bit of a panicky tizzy fit in the car on the way in, I appear to have survived.
Still hoping Boris carries out his threat to make 20% of the Civil Service, make me an offer.
I've just had a dozen 16-17 year olds sat around our fire pit for the evening. They've inhaled pizza and s'mores, played music and chased each other around the garden. They all cleared up after themselves, even said thank you when they left.
It's reminded me what our kids have missed for the last two years, and how lovely most teenage kids are. 👍👍👍
@MoreCashThanDash and @matt_outandabout you’ve picked me back up again, I’ll keep on trying to help someone in trouble.
We went out for a pub dinner with a mate and had 2 cheeky pints... On a school night !!
@ElShalimo that’s just reminded me of my mum saying “J……….” has had TWO WHOLE PINTS!” Little did she know! It always amuses me.
I've had a couple of days of really bad mental health, worst in a good while.
Currently feeling great having just watched the video a student placement team have produced as their project output for me. Really impressed and pleased for them, it's cheered me right up.
Off to BPW at the end of the week too
Caught up with a documentary by one of my favourite film makers about the Thai cave rescue on Disney+ last night.
Reminded me of the astonishing things humans are capable of, how close to failure they came, and was just generally one of the most uplifting things I've seen for a while. Really quite emotional to watch.
Also, Cave Divers are a different breed.
I got myself into and out of bed without assistance or agonising pain last night/this morning.
Won’t need surgery to correct the issue causing the previous inability to do the above either. (Collarbone break)
Today’s positivity - I’ve had a bit of reflection and read again some of the threads that I’ve contributed to or just followed. There are some good and kind people on here, willing to help others in all sorts of ways. Financially, practically, someone to lean on emotionally or just practical advice on all sorts of subjects, even bikes, is usually available. The wildlife and nature threads are particularly interesting.
Overall a friendly place, have a nice weekend y’all!
The dust extractor I was poised to buy costing £430, pops up in Axminster tools rebranding clearance sale for £275. Saving £155. Arrived the next day.
Top marks 😀
Caught up with a documentary by one of my favourite film makers about the Thai cave rescue on Disney+ last night.
That was an amazing watch. Even knowing the result it was still emotional. likes, a lot
Sat on my own in the smoking shelter of the local where I'm working - 4 slightly inebriated women in one of the seated areas. One gets up to go to the loo - I smiled as she walked past, next thing I'm invited over to have the craic with them. Cut it short, as I had to get back, but had 15 minutes of having a laugh and meeting new fun people.
The moral of the story - sometimes a smile goes a long way, had I not smiled, she'd have just walked past and gone for a pee
THE LADYBIRDS ARE COMING!!
Got quite a bit of blackfly around again this year but I’ve started to see more Ladybird larvae. For those who don’t know what they look like try and find a picture, they look nothing like Ladybirds. They are voracious predators of lots of what we might call pests, a natural control.
Not seen much in the way of ladybirds, but we have a lot of young sparrows in our garden who were feasting on the greenfly on the roses outside the living room window this morning.
Just back from a few days in the Yorkshire Dales near Skipton in our aged motorhome. A lovely five van site on a farm with a farmer who gave you the feeling, and I’m sure he was, a very kind chap. He did though utter some racist words I’ve not heard for years and also liked killing things. I took my road bike and went out on it for short rides, the first time for several years. I rode right up to Malham Cove, on the footpath and met many happy smiley people (yes, I know it’s a footpath) I was on 28mm Bianchi Reparto Corse tyres and it was lovely. I had some other short rides around the area and had only courteous behaviour from other road users, perhaps because there were lots of other cyclists about people are used to us? If last week you saw an aged chap in full Bianchi kit, including matching socks, helmet and tyres around Airton, and you smiled and waved. Thank you!
I will go back to the same campsite and when I get to know the farmer better I’ll start to gently bring him into the modern world - or at least my version!
Take care you all.
All is good in the world when you can watch Bo ripping.
#kidsonbikesrock
Needs a bump.
Yes it is cold - but my word it is beautiful out. This morning has the clearest blue sky above us in Stirling.
Tru dat Matt,even saw some of the meteor shower early on,followed by a beautiful sunrise that will have had sheperds on full alert 😉
We are baking and prepping all day for the Xmas fair this weekend #scentofcake 😆
Oil boilers are a new thing to me, and all of a sudden I needed to fix ours.
Bit of YouTube, I'm in there cleaning out the soot, changing the nozzle, adjusting the electrodes and changing the photocell.
Guess what, it now works, and it's been a lovely crisp clear day outside working on it.
Off to Wales tonight crampons and axes maybe for first time in four years!
Lovely day working in the garden, pruning some of the birch, ash, sycamore and oak to let a bit of light into the central clearing and to stop branches rubbing. Did it all from a wooden ladder that must be over 70 years old and using hand tools as I don’t like the noise from power tools on a weekend. The prunings will be shredded this week with my very quiet shredder/grinder or will supplement the dead hedge’s I’ve created. Lots of sunshine and birdsong, a very satisfying and uplifting day.
How are you all doing?
Trying to look after my health a bit more, weight down this last week but more importantly blood pressure readings consistently down as well, its all very slow but as long as the trend is down it puts a smile on my face.
Took the little un along Newbiggin prom, had some photos with 'the couple', then on the bikes around QE2 park to finish off a rather lovely day 🙂
Ah, Northumberland, one of my favourite places!
Great ride at dawn this morning.
Later today ... fingers crossed... I should find out whether our 11 month 2 day wait to get our insurance claim is finally sorted. We already have a builder lined up and then we should finally be able to get on with rebuilding our house and moving back in. Will be happy with Christmas 2023.
Went for a ride on the road today on my aged “hybrid” Marin San Rafael. A circular ride from near Allonby to Aspatria and Maryport and then back along the excellent coastal bicycle path, everyone I met or encountered on the road and path were considerate and pleasant. Even on the section of main road, lorries, buses and cars hung back until safe to pass and give me plenty of room, no fast jets without hooters or bell’s either.
Well done West Cumbria, I am encouraged!
It was a bit uppy and downy though..
A full year on since I started this thread. I’ve been doing my annual bramble pull in the sunshine and listening to the birdsong. Retreated just in time to the workshop now as it’s hammering it down - still nice though being dry and listening to the rain on the roof.
Any other positivity flowing around?
Went out for a ride with my mate last night. By the time we got to the high point, the clouds had rolled in, scuppering our stargazing plans, then unexpected rain chased us home and soaked us through. But we got time before the rain for tea with honey JD and a jam sandwich and we gassed all the way round as we hadn't been out in ages. All in all, it was a jolly good night. 🙂
My car has finally been cleaned inside and out. 😃 I have a feeling the last time it got a good going over was in autumn 2022.
Five months of biking and sailing circuit detritus is now gone. Scrubbed up pretty well for a 12 year old silver eurobox. Reminds me I don't need a newer one. Small victories and all that but after a very difficult end to the week it's good to get one.
In the garden yesterday, amongst the other birdsong I thought I heard something different. I tuned me tabs in and sure enough there it was, a Chiff chaff. Later on in the year its loud monotonous call will irritate but for now it’s a cheerful portent of spring.
Get outside y’all, look and listen. It’s free and doesn’t wear out!
The curlews have been back for a while by us. I've taken to going for an early morning walk everyday which has done wonders for my mood and usually hear their distinctive call while out. Skylarks are also out in abundance. We are eagerly awaiting the swallows which should show up any day now. There have already been sitings near us. They nest in an outbuilding and shed of ours every year.
I have also been pulling up brambles for a couple of days and really made a dent in them. Looking forward to a good bonfire to get rid of them on the next dry day, accompanied by a couple of beers and some boozy fireside contemplation and meditation.
Also, the bluebell shoots are sprouting in the woods! No flowers yet. So much to be thankful for this time of year! Great thread, thanks👍
The forecast for the next few days is looking pretty decent for bike riding. Dry with not too much wind. That's got to put a smile on people's faces.
Indeedy. One of my mates, who I've not seen since before lockdown, is up from London and bringing his bike with him so we can head out riding on Saturday
Also: all my daff and tulips that I planted last year look like they're about to flower this weekend, so we'll have a garden full of colour 😀
Have a great weekend you lot!
Working at the garden centre always has delights. Today we uncovered thee new Koi as they have acclimatised and are through quarantine. Looking at them in the sun was a delight. Why do we need things as beautiful as them or peacocks except to bring joy to the world?
A couple of weekends back I took my oldest son to swimming training on Saturday morning. Needing something from the fruit growers cooperative nearby I dropped him off and then walked into town. As I walked under a bridge I saw a line of swallows nests and then several swallows doing their thing. One of the them had a good sized white feather in its beak. It let go of it about 3-4 metres high, flew loops and then caught it again as it drifted down. This it repeated two or three times. ‘Twas marvellous.
I've seen a few complaining threads on here recently so thought I'd give this a bump. My positive thing is as simple as messing about with my two boys in the pool on holiday. I say "boys", but they're 18 and 16. It's the first time I've been able to play fight with them without holding back. So much fun and we were laughing so hard. Sometimes it's the simple things.
Good idea.
Productive and pleasant weekend here, lots of little jobs sorted a trip out for some plants and a bit of BBQ / smoker window shopping (how much?!), family walk yesterday and then a bike ride with eldest this morning and an unproductive fishing trip this evening with both the boys.
Also chuffed I set a new PR down the final descent home today from our ride and beat a few segment times including on a number of climbs from the previous ride we did about a week ago. I don't go in for Strava obsession but I really felt slow and uncomfortable the last couple of times out and it's reassuring to see evidence that I am not just feeling better but actually going better.
What a freakin’ amazing thread ☺️ I have nothing to add but keep on keeping on folks 🤗 Sometimes social media does have its benefits ☺️
Positivity. OK. I'm lacking in that right now as regular readers might understand.
I have a girlfriend I love, and who loves me, but cross-reference back to the menopause thread.
We have cats who are variously pricks and adorable.
I have a new house as of a couple of years ago which is amazing but I'm desperately hoping isn't secretly ****ed.
I have friends who are, honestly, here's your solid positivity, just bloody amazing from those I've known for 30 years to those I've known for 30 days. I'm looking at you, Pete.
But aside from the primary issue, I wouldn't change any of it. I'm going to bed shortly, I'll have at least one purring idiot coiled up next to me inside of about three minutes, and you know, I'll take that.
TL;DR
Friends.
Grab them with both hands because they come from the most unexpected of corners.
Just had that thing where you walk into a cafe and a tune you like but isn’t too popular comes on and it makes you feel like you’re in a film… albeit not a mainstream one.
A great weekend with an away day club ride that stopped for lunch in the small town I grew up in and haven't been back to in 25 years - so many good memories.
Marshalled a club TT and hill climb yesterday, helped gave 30+ riders aged 9 upwards a good morning. Was stopped as I was leaving by the former national hill climb champ to thank me for marshalling, which meant a lot.
Eldest came back from Edinburgh whete he'd been playing in a show at the Fringe - it's rekindled his love of performing and they got great audience reviews.
https://www.railtech.com/all/2023/08/29/british-high-speed-trains-set-for-mexico/
My dad's trains are off to Mexico.
¡Arriba, arriba! ¡Ándale, ándale!
Had a glorious day on the pedal iron yesterday. Good group out riding some old Wharny classics, everyone was on a heater too.
Weather was a bit meh, but the apples are nearly there and so we make apple chutney from some windfalls and manky looking ones (cutting out all the manky bits obvs).
Had a lovely phonecall today. We were booked into a campsite in early November, part of a tour after all the crowds have gone in a very popular part of the country. Perfect location as my wife would be able to walk to the cove and good views from the site - part of a short tour in our aged motorhome. Last week we were contacted to say that they’d made a mistake and the site was actually closed! I was friendly and polite and asked about alternatives as all we need is a place to park and empty the toilet every couple of days. The wardens have made every effort to find us an alternative pitch but everywhere is closed in the area. The site (I can’t say where as the corporate bods might not approve) rang me today, offered me a pitch, with hook up, free!! It made me inordinately happy and I’ll make sure to take some nice presents for the wardens!
Since we were getting in at silly o'clock from a flight, we'd booked into a nearby Travel lodge for a sleep before we did the journey home the next morning. We woke up earlier than expected so decided to have the breakfast there before setting off. After buying the ticket and heading next door it turned out that the breakfast had shut 15 mins earlier.
The lovely fella from the breakfasts went back to the hotel with us to get our money back then made us free takeaway butties with the left over breakfast bacon. Free bacon, the best way to start the day.
To all the lovely people at Llandegla today. Thank you.
I was there with a kid who's had tough times, who doesn't trust any strangers and doesn't feel safe on the streets of his home.
So to turn up to Llandegla and have loads of you say hello, some of you cheer his (endless) wheelies, someone ask him about his bike, a family ask him to take their picture, and generally a lovely positive vibe was ALL THE AWESOMES.
We had a deep chat on the way home about how not everyone in life is an arsehole or a gang member, and how he could find people through sport that would be as lovely as today...
So to turn up to Llandegla and have loads of you say hello, some of you cheer his (endless) wheelies, someone ask him about his bike, a family ask him to take their picture, and generally a lovely positive vibe was ALL THE AWESOMES.
Wow! Positive vibes indeed and a great lesson to the kid that not everyone is an arse!
On another note I've exercised (all be it lightly) everyday for the last 9 days which is more than I've managed all year!!
A friend of my partner offered to take the kids to Manchester for the weekend. They’ve had an amazing time. (We live in Aberdeen so not a quick jaunt.) It’s something we would really struggle to do because of work.
Me and my wife went to Bakewell town hall on Friday night to see Rosie Jones.
Brilliant, if you get chance go and see her!
We have recently come back from a family holiday with our daughter. This may not sound anything extraordinary, but to us its a massively positive thing.
I've talked on here before about our adult daughter who is Autistic, ADHD, and has a learning disability.
Her reactions to anxiety can be very challenging, resulting in violent, inappropriate or self-injurous behaviours. This means she needs constant 1:1 support in her home and 2:1 in the community.
We haven't been able to take her on a family holiday for over 10 years. This has been due to her own anxiety surrounding going to somewhere different (and the build up to it), and also us not being able to safely manage some of her behaviours in unfamiliar surroundings. We have tried the odd night away over the last 10 years, some have been more successful than others!
For about a year we have been planning with the care manager to take a 3 day holiday with our daughter, two care staff and some of our extended family.
We have recently come back and it really couldn't have gone much better. We all enjoyed family meals, swimming and woodland walks together. It was a massive personal achievement and self confidence boost for our daughter ( she hasn't stopped talking about it since we have come back), and something my wife and I wouldn't have thought possible a few years ago. We've learnt not to expect too much, but hopefully we can do similar next year.
A big thank you to all care workers out there, you do an invaluable job.
👍👍👍👍👍
We’ve learnt not to expect too much, but hopefully we can do similar next year.
We've family friends in a very similar position.
Thier daughter, after gentle holidays and building up things for a few years, has just returned from a month volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Asia....
Burntembers - a friend of mine is setting up a holiday place exactly for kids with autism, sensory difficulties and challenging behaviour. Should be open in the spring. It will be self catering accommodation with a small " safe" garden and a larger adventure garden ( still safe but will require supervision) with a petting zoo, jungle gym etc. she is doing this because she has her own severely autistic daughter and there was no where for them to go on holiday
PM me for details - central Scotland